Keener "Mom" Coordinator

Hello again!
Just a quick update on the Keeners and Keenerville. This is the beginning of the second week with the largest group consisting of 24 Keeners. The current Keeners are as follows: Craig, Stephen, Jamie, Geoff, Peter, Max, Mauricio, Nick, Finn, James, Ashley, Morgan, Evan, Taylor, Willie, David, Nyle, Rory, Matt, Paul, Aidan, Lane, Jacob, and our newest addition Tracy! Believe it or not I had all of these names memorized the first day, haha. I can't say enough good things about this group, they are beyond fantastic! Since they are so wonderful, I have been spoiling them every single evening with goodies. I generally get them to help me make desserts or snacks. Tonight we had a camp fire which consisted of marsh mellows, hot dogs, taco dip (their absolute favourite snack), cup cakes, chips, popcorn, and lots and lots of juice. Making a simple snack every evening is a lot more complicated when there is 24+ hungry, growing teenagers to fill up, but I certainly don't mind. They are all extremely good at listening, helping out, completed chores, well mannered, very respectful, which makes my job a lot easier. I always tell them "If you do things for other, you will get things in return", which they have come to realize, the more they do around the house and the better they act the more fun it is and the better the food is, haha.
Junior Olymics Freestyle Competition was Friday and boy-oh-boy was it ever beautiful!! We had amazing weather, the sun was shinning, the clouds were on vacation and everyone was smiling. The day was so amazing! The event was held at McCoys, lunch was put on at Keenerville, there was shuttle to assist parents, friends, and others to get over to McCoys island to watch, and everything just worked out wonderful. Thanks to Joe Kowalski for all of his efforts in making it happen, along with everyone else who pitched in for the day! The Keeners made me overly proud...they did so well in the competition, you couldn't have removed my smile that day if you tried!
Thanks to all the Keeners for your great help and participation this past week, your all such special people and I know for certain you will all be extremely successful in whatever life throws your way.
Continue smiling!! :)
Keener of the week this week is Willie Underwood (unfortunately I don't have a picture of him at the moment, but I will put one up very soon). It was very hard to decide who to choose, since everyone has been fantastic! Willie is such an amazing Keener, I can always count on him for pretty much anything. I have walked into Robertsons numerous times and found Willie doing dishes while everyone else is busy participating in activities or kayaking. He is extremely keen to do whatever needs to be done before play. I really appreciate his respectful attitude and willingness to do pretty much everything. Continue doing what your doing! You have certainly been above and beyond this week.
Thank you for reading!
"You must be the change you wish to see in the world."
Keener "Mom" Coordinator JACKIE!!

My secound keener blog

It was nice to have a rest from paddling this weekend, i say this but i still went for a short session on both days. It seams even when i try to have a rest day i just get drawn back to the great paddling on offer here. As well as paddling we have been watching movies, chilling and participating in film classes with sam and editing our own keener footage. Tonight we enjoyed a sweet feast courtesy of our keener mum who is alwys spoiling us with cakes and food, What a legend.
Well thats all ive got to say for now.
peace out.

Dave

First weekend of Keeners

It's Ashley Fuller again from New Hampshire, this is my first weekend at Keenerville, and it is deffinately good just to relax, hang out, play some games, and eat food! Yesterday the day was a little stormy in the morning so we all just chilled, i got some work done for school and watched a movie. A little later we played a game of Ultimate Frisbee, even though our team lost like 15-3 it was still fun. Today will probably be very similar to yesterday...

Relaxing on the Ottawa

Hey, this is Jacob. Yesterday was the first day of the weekend and my first weekend at keeners. During the weekends there is no instruction and we are free to paddle or relax at keenerville. Yesterday Rory, Peter, Mauricio and I Paddled at Corner wave and left side during the morning and then headed down to the Lorne for the afternoon. Once we ran the Lorne we took out and had an amazing lunch at the WT lunch spot. After lunch we went to Waikiki, I controled the tow in for the wave. This was really fun because I have never seen or done a tow in before. I learned that a tow in is much harder then it looks. After we were done surfing we walked back up the Lorne towards Keenerville. At the eddy above garb we hung out and swam for a few hours. It was very nice to have some free time to relax and cool off. After this we paddled back upstream instead of running the river. We had a very tasty chicken dinner last night followed by video class with Sam. Today is Sunday and instead of paddling I am relaxing for the next week of instruction and fun ahead of us.
Talk to You later!
Jacob

Weekend Fun!

There is nothing like starting a Sunday morning with a big huge breakfast consisting of french toast, eggs, bacon, and some waffles!
The weekends at Kennerville are crazy fun. Ultimate Frisbee, swimming, and Foosball.
Yesterday we had an early game of ultimate and it was so hot out so after our game we all jumped into the river and swam across to the rocks right across from Kennerville. We found a rock you could jump off probably 5 feet height. We did that from about 15 to 20 mins then we walked up the island and swam across the river. On the other side we were doing mystery moves on the eddy line! It was so epic!
After our long swim back we had some lunch then just kind of messed around till we had another game of ultimate and this game was the most epic game of ultimate ever played! There was this one throw that was going right into the woods/bushes and I was running really fast to get it anyway so I didn't stop and dove straight into the bushes. But somehow the Frisbee landed right in my hands. It was crazy! after that game we went swimming again. But we were all super tired from all that went on through the day so we just swam to the rocks jumped 2 or 3 times and swam back.
After we got back we went to the thunder dome and had some food and watched Robin Hood! We had dinner then got cleaned up. Then Party Sam did some video and Photo classes! They we fun but we were all so tired

Who knows what will happen today!

Morgan Fuller

the good breakfast's

well there is nothing better to start of the day other than a good breakfast , well we have hot food in the mornigs on teusday thursday and sunday , with amazing pancakes on big water baert down thurday it just sets you up right, expesialy if your getting beaten down ,but i have to say that the french toast today was so sweet and gooey , the good type though ,
so today were are going to run the main so then we can snack olso on the river lunches ,
so it bye from the brit and im proberly going to eat somer more

Paul: 1st week at keeners

Hey its Paul my first week of keeners has been great, the food at wilderness tours is great. Garb is almost in just another week or two and the water will be low enough.



We play frisbee a lot, I have kayaked so much over the past week it is nice to relax on the weekends. we also are very competitive at fooseball games. Someone is always in an intense game of fooseball.

first weekend at keeners

hey again,
your token irishman, Rory, here. This is my first weekend at keeners and my first oppurtunity to paddle wherever and whenever i want. Peter, Jacob, my mexican friend mauricio and I paddled mc Coys rapid for a bit in the mornin. I focused mainly on corner wave and ran Phil's hole a few times too.
Then we went down to waikiki for lunch on the main channel. Burgers and hotdogs...nice. After surfin waikiki for a bit we decided to paddle back upstream to keener ville. We stopped off at a little beach thing for a swim along the way too and found ourselves a nice rock to do flips and stuff off...good times!
Thats basically what I did on saturday. Unfortunately the levels a lil bit high now so not much is workin. I'll probably just chill out for a while, take a few pictures and do a bita flatwater practice.
thats all for now,
Rory

Keeners Weekend!

Hey everyone it's Nyle here. this weekend we were free to do whatever we want so yesterday I went to paddle at rightside horshoe and at corner wave. I also met up with my kayak instuctor from outside off OKS Duane Craig. he was up here just paddling with a group of his friends and i hung out with them for a bit. Later yesterday when I came back from paddling with Nick and Taylor, I watched Robin Hood. Today we are getting a new keener! For the rest of today i am either going to chill at keenerville or go out paddling.
till next time.. Nyle

week 1 of keeners

Hi I am Nick, I am from New Mexico. I have been here for a week now and I am having a ton of fun. I'm staying in the robertson's I like staying here because this were all the food is so when I get hungy I only have to walk two steps too get some food. This river is the biggest I have ever seen also the biggest water I have ever seen.My goal is to get a flat water loop because if I get that my dad said he would by a new boat which I really need.

Aidan Conn

This is Aidan Conn from New Hampshire again still having a great stay here at keener world domination headquarters. Keenerville is great and the program is good. this week I hope to learn how to roundhouse and clean spin. bye I'll write later.

My First Weekend

Hay guys it's Taylor from Knoxville, TN again. This is my first weekend as a keener and so far it's going great. I have been sleeping in, paddling some and play some frisbee. The days with out running is great and Party Sam is making it a great weekend too. The weather is some what rainy and bad, but it is still the weekend and I am going to make the most of it.

Evan's first weekend

Hey, Everybody

Evan Moore checking in from Keener World Domination Headquarters. The water level is at about 6 and not much to play at the momment.

I have been pretty sick over the last few days and I'm still not feeling all that great.

Yesterday i ran the river and felt very weak so today i'm going to stay at Keenerville and try to talk to my friends and family back home.

I am looking forward to be getting better and enjoy the rest of my stay here

Cheers,

Evan Moore

My first weekend @ keenerville and paddling the Ottawa

Hey, I am Lane and I live in Belguim thats a small country in Europe.
It is here fantastic, good food, nice people ....
This weekend we where free to paddle, we paddel yesterday the main channel it was fun.
Friday was it the juniors olympics, I was second.
The river is fun with big holes and big waves.
Its going good with my goals: I dit already a air blunt.

Greetz,
Lane

AND STILL MORE PHOTOS

AND MORE JO PHOTOS

MORE JO PHOTOS

JUNIOR OLYMPICS

Keeners had the pleasure of hosting the Freestyle Event of Junior Olympics. They not only competed but scribed and judges. All the Keeners competed Freestyle and our Kiwi's are competing in Ottawa in slalom too. Lots of good photos to enjoy.

Special thanks to Coordinators Jackie and Sam and to Head Coach Stephen Wright along with Nick, Joel and current women's world champion, Ruth Gordon. Keeners are blessed.

Joe Kowalski

kiwis on the ottawa

hi i'm max i'm 12yrs old and i'm one of the 3 kiwis on the ottawa. This is my first year at keeners and i'm having a grrrrrrrrreeaaaaaaaaattt time. We have been doing all sorts of great stuff like surfing awesome waves and swimming through huge holes.We live on a site called keenerville which is right beside the river so all we have to do is jump in our boats and we are there!!The river itself is great the water itself is awesome the waters warm the whitewater is great and its all on our doorstep (literally)what else do we need!! my goals this summer are to learn to do cartwheels on a wave and all that kinda stuff.Hi to all family and friends back in NZ.
seya soon

Geoff's blog

hi everyone, im geoff johnson, one of the three dudes from the new zealand crew, is my first time in the keeners programe. This is my forth day out of the three weeks here and so far its been awsome. the best thing i think about keeners is the instructors stephen wright, nick troutman, ruth gordon, joel kowalski and rafa (rafael). my achievements so far would be surfing and punching phil's hole and running the dragon's tounge on the garvins rapids, which some of the biggest white water on the ottawa. While im here at keeners im trying to learn to blunt or get better at my spins

Geoff

keeners week 4

Hey this is Jacob from Buckhorn, Ontario. So far the keener program has been awesome. The coaches are great and so is the river. The first night we had our icebreaker speeches. I set 3 goals for the three weeks and that was to loop, roundhouse and blunt. Within the second and third day on the water I was able to do all of these things. Ruth Gordon helped me with my flatwater loops, the tricks I have learned still need lots of work but I have done them all a few times. Tommorow is the junior olympics and hopefully the water levels will be good for corner wave and babyface. Today was my first day going down the main channel and I had a blast. The waves were huge and the sun was shinning.
I can't wait for next week and for the ramp to be set up.

first week on the ottawa

My name is finn, i am 14 years old and come from New Zealand. So far my stay at keeners has been fantastic, the people are awesome, the river is a dream and our keener mum, jackie is so cool. Also party sam, our dad on the weekends is prety sweet. My favorite channel is definately the main, it has lots of water going down it and there is lots of boils and some huge waves. My favorite part of keeners so far would be surfing phills hole today.
Our coaches are really good. We have Nick Troutman, Joel Kowalski, Ruth Gordon, Stephen Wright and Rafa. they are all really good paddlers and are great at instructing. Some of my goals for keeners would be learning to blunt, loop and panam.

Keeners Week 4 (week 1 for me)

Hey it's Nyle! I'm from Richmond Hill wich is near Toronto so it was a good 6 hour drive up here. There are alot of crazy people here (Waffles) and its been great hanging out with them! the river has so far been at an exellent level. Day one I went down the main and got a good beat down in big Kahuna wich was not that bad.. day two was a run down the middle, day three was race day, we all raced dowm M'coys. Day four was big water beatdown day. we all swam through M'coys and got trashed. Keenerville is a very nice place situated right beside the rapids so no driving in the morning. this year i want to get a clean spin and try out some blunts and roundhouse's. Tommorow is a competition (junior whitewater olympics) that we will all compete in. wish me luck.
Nyle

Aidan

This is Iron Aidan from New Hampshire. I've been having a great week here so far with lots of Foosball and a movie. Keenerville is great. the river is great I've gone down the main a few time and surfed a bit but I still hope to get a bowstall. I can't wait for the junior Olympics tomorrow and I've got to go.

keener update

We have a solid group of keeners rite now, everybody is getting alot great and having tons of fun! tomorrow is the Jr Olympics, everybody is excited and been training hard.

Jamie from the 412

First week as a Keener

Hay guys it's Taylor Cofer all the way from Knoxville, TN. This is my frist year and week as a keener, and so far it is going great. The water here compared to the water back home is unreal. All of the waves and the holes make the moves so much easier, and it's a whole lot easier to learn all of the different moves that I am interested in learning too. It has been great paddling with all of the differnt kids from all around the world and the instructers. When I go back home I am going to compete in the Dagger free style compition, and on Friday I am going to compete in my frist freestly compition. The running in the morning is not as bad as I thought and the 21 guns is okay too. 

Taylor Cofer

1st week at keeners

yo ! Dave here, some people call me brit 2 because i come from britian, as you can guess I am 1 of 2 british people here on the course at the moment. The stay at keeners has been awesome so far the meals have been great and so have the evening snacks (courtesy of jackie the keener mum). I am really enjoying paddling the river and riding on the crunk bus, I say the the crunk bus but the bus is not actually crunk but are gangster music and g dancing crunkafise it. The programs been sweet so far with a combination of paddling the river, playboating, participating in a boto x and having big water beat down thursday. Tomorow we will be competing in the junior olympics which should be alot of fun. My goals for the trip are to improve my paddling and have fun.

Dave
P.s. waffles is nutter, thats why we like him.

Keener 3 days in very sick kayaking

Hey its paul palmer, my first 3 days of kayaking have been very exhausting compared to a tipical week in glenwood springs CO.

So far i know all of the rapids on main channel, i have run it 2-3 times so far and played on many play spots,  my favorite wave so far is corner wave at about 4 to 3. it is very steep but hard to stay in. the water is dropping very fast and soon garb will be in.

Tommarow are junior olympics and i hope to place between 1st to 4th.

Sincerlly,

Paul V. Palmer

Morgan's first week as a keener 3rd year paddling

Hello Readers!
It's Morgan Fuller writing at the girls house, Yakistan!
So this is my first week at a keener and things are going great. The Keener program is a sweet thing and its great fun! Ok, so far in my journey at Keenerville we have watched movies, made fires, ate some super food our Keener mom Jackie made for us, and of course done some epic paddling!
Our paddling instructers for our first week include, Joel Kowalski, Stephen Wright, Nick Troutman, Rafael Ortiz, Ruth Gorden, and Kyle Hull. All these instructers are either pro or well on their way to be pro! Its epic paddling with them because they know so much and they try to tranfer so much of there knowings to us and we are learning super fast!
So far on the river I have got worked many times but that is all in the fun of what we do here. Everytime I come up smiling and claim my beat down. Everytime I come out of a big beat down either in my boat or not I know that I have just lost all fear of getting worked in a hole of whatever size it was. And truely I am happy for that beat down because now I will go through anything of it's size or maybe bigger!
Today I ran the main for the first time and it was amazing! My intructers took me down the safest lines everytime and im not going to lie I was pretty greatful!
So there is my first week at Keeners !

Well thanks for reading!

Morgan Fuller

My first week @ the ottawa

Hey, I am Lane and I from Belgium. I am 13 and this is my first week @ the ottawa.
It is so much fun here. Playing on the river make some nice moves. Make fun with friends.
It is so nice with all those good instructors: Nick Troutman, Ruth Gordon, Steven Wright, Rafael Ortiz and Joel Kowalski.
Its so much fun on the river with all those nice holes and waves.
Everyday its different with the water level that still keep changing.
Today I had a nice beatdown at phils, I got the beatdown of the week.
Its good food good ambiance.

I really want to work on my blunts and some other stuf, today I did a really good one.

Tomorow its the juniors olympics I am looking forward to it.

Greetz,
Lane

Week 1 of Keeners

Hello, this is Ashley Fuller from New Hampshire. My first week was okay. I'm having a little bit of problems being so far away from home, hopefully that will get easier. It is nice to be with so many different nationalities, in my little town we don't have any diversity at all. Today was big water Thursday, and i ran the main for the first time, which i was very happy about. In these next couple weeks i really hope to feel more comfortable on the river, i tend to get very nervous and negative about my skills, which tends to make a problem. The weather was very good today and i really hope it stays that way!

Sincerely,
Ashley Fuller

Hi my name is Mauricio Martinez and this is my first week and first year in keeners, I live in Mexico City, Mexico. I am staying Ottawa for 3 weeks, and my first week is almost over.
Keenervile is a very nice place with a great location on the river, is in McCoy's chute, right below a big rapid with some great waves like corner, right side and baby face. And 2 big holes like saddlers and phill's.
The Ottawa river is awsome, you have big waves, big holes and little stuff. Today was bigwater beatdown, we had to swim through phill's hole and then paddle through the tounge or if we wanted to surfet we could surf it, the best channel on the river is the main because you have big rapids like colesseum and some great waves to surf like choping block.
My goal this summer is to get my flatwater loop, blunts, etc.

Evan's first week of Keeners year two

Hey, Everybody

Evan Moore here checking in from Keener World Domination Headquarters. My first week went by very well besides the fact that I am sick at the moment, I won the boatercross and have the Junior Olympics for Freestyle tommorow. 

My instructers for the first week where Stephen Wright, Nick Troutman, Joel Kowalski, Ruth Gordon, Kyle Hull,and Rafa Ortiz.

Keenerville is treating me well for the little time I'm here. 

The weather has been very rainy besides today. 

Don't have any pics or videos to put on right now but, will have a video very soon.

Cheers,

Evan Moore :]

the truely international affair

well its the brit here again and im writing to say how wonderful it is to be paddling with so many different nationality's , it just shows that the Ottawa river and the outstanding keener program draws poeple from as far as NZ all the way to on of the worlds best rivers,
we have a mexican ,a belgium ,two brits and 3 kiwis plus a lot of americans and canadians so its a nice mix of people to paddle with.
well today was big water beat down thursday but only for the morning nad then we practiced our rides on corner wave for the ever looming compatition tomorrow , and i am sure every keener will do well.
so it goode bye from me and i hope to be in the top 20 at tomorrows competition
james the nighthawk brit

Week 4 In Keenerville

Hey, this is 80's Craig from California, telling you about life in Keener World Domination Headquarters. This week has been awesome, with a total of 23 keeners, we have been splitting up into groups to go either on the Main or Middle. Thus far into the fourth week I have been practicing Airscrews, and with the help of all the coaches I am getting closer and closer. On a different note, I have moved into Animal house with our very own Brit, Nighthawk (a.k.a. James)
Friday is the Junior Olympics, and with the Keeners participating, it should be a great time.
Adios to you all,
Craig Hull

keeners week 1
Rory O' Reilly here. I'm quite a bit away from home these days as usually i live in Dublin, Ireland. I arrived here in ottawa on monday evening and have had 3 days of coaching so far and it has been awesome!
As keeners, we live in, aptly named, keener ville. It's a pretty cool place to be. We sleep in log cabins and then there's the thunder dome. That's where we hang out, eat, get briefed etc. Each morning we get woken up by our keener mom jackie at 7.30. We do a bit of a run and some push ups and stretching before breakfast, which we usually make ourselves. A good start to the day. Then our coaches arrive and we head out on the water. Stephen usually spends a few minutes warming up with up us. Then we do whats on our schedule for the day. It might be a race, competition, general freestyle or running the river. On weekends we can paddle as we wish so i'm really looking forward to that.
Today was "big water beat down thursday". This was so much fun! We all paddled through this pretty big hole called phil's hole that's at the top of the rapid beside keener ville. and basically the person who gets the biggest beat down wins. I came second and was mighty proud of my short but sweet monster thrashing!
Personally my goals are tyo improve on flatwater and to bring my wave paddling to a new level. Blunts and backstabs are definitely two moves i would like to have dialled in when i leave but its taking a while to get used to the new features here.
anyways thats my blog, i'll be back.
happy paddling! :)

Keener stay thus far

hello, my name is Stephen Forster and I am currently a keener staying on the Ottawa River. I am from Wilton, CT and I have been a member of the program for 5 years thus far. This is my third week as a keener and so far I have enjoyed my stay here. Today was big water beatdown thursday and the keeners got to witness some great thrashings. In all it was a great day.

The Hustle

My names Willie Underwood from Lake George, New YorkMy first week in Keeners started with an inspirational speech/rap called the Hustle by Nighthawk!! (Aka James). I didnt really understand what the speech was about but it was still pretty funny. The group is pretty big but it just adds to the fun. The most fun part of the river is probably McCoys at the moment with corner wave and phils but hopefully the level drops and GARB comes in!!!! Today was big water beatdown and the whole group swam through phils (on purpose) and then made terrible swim over to the eddy. Most of us got thrashed in phils and then ran the rest of the river. Hopefully the comp will be good tommorow. and im hoping to get my blunts down GOOD!
yours truly,
Willie!

Culinary Arts ( of keeners_

Hey everybody, its Jamie Rosenberger and i took my first day off in 3 weeks, and man it felt good. But since i was missing out on all the delicious hamburgers at the lunch site, i had to make some food for my self, with the help of my co-chef ( Steven Forester)we made spaghetti carbonara. Consitsitng of some of the only ingredients around, milk eggs, pasta noodles, and butter we made ourselves a feast. I would like to thank my padre for my cooking skills. Any how it was so good and one of the best keener made meals EVER.
-Jamie

Hey there,
Sam Fulbright checking in here with the first video of the year from the Keeners. I'm the weekend coordinator for the Keeners as well as the video teacher. The Keener Video class is up and running and these guys and girls have been working on taking a lot of footage, on and off the river for our weekly segments. In video class so far we have learned the basics of editing including: logging footage, cutting clips, adding music, text, slow motion, time lapse, and freeze frames. I'm looking forward to seeing what everyone produces over the weeks as we have some great ideas lined up!
Sam

Hey everyone, this is the end of my last week at keeners and as a keener. I had a great time these past few weeks with everyone and I just want to thank all the instructors for helping me improve on my paddling skills and the co-ordinators, Jacquie and Sam, for keeping everything in order. Once again it was an awesome time and I look forward to working here later this summer.

Cheers,
Jeremy

Video Class

hey everybody, its Jamie reportining to you live from keenerville! One of the new additions to the program is video class, and it is awesome. 2-3 times a week Sam Fulbright teaches us video editing and filming, it is a very important skill to have, and can be very fun to look back on all your old footage. We make time lapses of just about everything, rapids, eating, preparing meals, and campfires. Everybody is encouraged to edit whenever they want, and to explore the program,Final Cut Pro. This is just another reason this is the best freestyle kayaking and youth development program int he world.

-JAMIE

End of Week 3

Yoyoyoyo, this is 80's Craig, reporting on life in Keenerville.This week was extremely fun, surfing awesome waves and being coached by the renowned Stephen Wright and Nick Troutman. The biggest beatdown of the week went to Miles Cree, for beeing worked, boofed on, and freewheeled over in the boof line in the lorne. The competition took place in Right-Side Horseshoe, of which Jeremy took first, the brit (James) got second, and and Liam got third place.
See you on down the road,
80's Craig Hull

competition and beat down thursday

hey this is the brit (james) talking, well this weeks been really good , we had on thursday big water beat down day ,i got the smack down on rightside phills but my beat down prize we tacken from my grasps by milies who got an epic beat down on the lornes boof spot ,but he did deserve it ,
how ever i did mannage to bring some pride back to britian by getting second in the commpetition which was so fun , a good 100 point ride with a good loop was good enough for second so i am happy ,
cant wait for some more boating on the amazing ottawa river
so it bye from james the night hawk brit